With the 2016 Summer Olympics in full swing, we are here with another post dedicated to this amazing international sport event. There are more than 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries competing in 28 Olympic sports at this year´s Summer Olympics hosted by Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While the Olympics (whether summer or winter) is always the most important sport event of the particular year, the numbers of athletes, countries, and sports featured at the competitions differ. For various reasons, the International Olympic Committee has removed some sports and replaced them with others. Known as so called discontinued sports, these sports were usually removed from the Olympics because of lack of interest or due to absence of an appropriate governing body. Some sports (such as tennis or archery) were once dropped by the committee but managed to return to the Olympic program later. However, some other sports have been discontinued for years, and they will probably never make it back. To pay tribute to the sports that used to be competed in at some of the earlier Olympics but have been discontinued since then, we created this post with 25 Olympic sports that have gone extinct. From tug of war and ski ballet to lacrosse and rope climbing, here are 25 Obsolete Olympic Sports You Might Not Believe Were Once Included.

Featured image: pixabay.com

25

Tug of war

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

A sport that is now widely practiced as a popular outdoor activity for children at summer camps, tug of war used to be a regular sport that was part of the Olympic Games from 1900 until 1920. During the time, the British won the most medals in this sport.

24

Ski ballet

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: threesixfive.tv

Also known as acroski, ski ballet was a freestyle skiing discipline from the late 1960’s until the year 2000. Ski ballet was a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, but then it declined in popularity and was eventually removed from the Olympics.

23

Military patrol

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: commons.wikimedia.org

Military patrol was a team winter sport in which athletes competed in cross-country skiing, ski mountaineering, and rifle shooting. With rules similar to modern biathlon, it was a part of the Winter Olympic Games in 1924, 1928, 1936, and in 1948 for the last time.

22

Swimming obstacle race

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

Held only once, at the 1900 Summer Olympics hosted by Paris, the swimming obstacle race was contested by 12 swimmers from 5 nations. There were 3 obstacles throughout the 200-meter course. Swimmers had to climb over the first 2 (a pole and a row of boats), and swim under the third one (another row of boats).

21

Bandy

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: de.wikipedia.org

Despite being the world’s second most popular winter sport (based on the number of participating athletes), bandy was featured at the Winter Olympics just once (in 1952 in Oslo). Back then, only 3 teams competed in this sport: Finland, Norway, and Sweden, who won the tournament.

20

Speed skiing

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: slate.com

One of the fastest and most dangerous non-motorized sports on land, speed skiing was a part of the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics. The sport was removed from the Olympics after a skier had a fatal accident while training. The current world record for this discipline is 255 km/h (158 mph).

19

Plunge for distance

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: youtube.com

Plunge for distance is a diving event that enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 19th and early part of the 20th century, when it even was an official event at the 1904 Summer Olympics. By the 1920’s, it began to lose its popularity and slowly disappeared from U.S. and English swim competitions. It was soon removed from the Olympics, too.

18

Club swinging

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

A form of juggling, club swinging was an artistic event held as a part of the gymnastics at the 1904 Summer Olympics. It was the only time the club swinging event was held at an Olympics. It was contested by an unknown number of competitors and won by American Edward Hennig.

17

Jeu de paume

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: commons.wikimedia.org

Translated as “real tennis,” jeu de paume is a ball-and-court game that originated in France more than 250 years ago. An indoor precursor of modern tennis, the sport was an actual medal event at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.

16

Power boating

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: pixabay.com

The first major race in power boating took place in 1903 across the English Channel and the sport even appeared as an event in the 1908 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, most of the races had to be cancelled due to bad weather conditions, and the sport was later dropped out from the Olympics.

15

Skijoring

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: PhotoBobil via flickr.com

Skijoring is a winter sport where a person on skis is pulled by a horse, a dog (or dogs), or a motor vehicle. Skijoring behind a horse is said to have originated as a method of winter travel, but today it is primarily a competitive sport. It appeared at the 1928 Winter Olympics but has been discontinued since then.

14

Roque

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: commons.wikimedia.org

An American variant of croquet played on a hard, smooth surface, roque was an Olympic sport at the 1904 Summer Games. Back then, the sport was practically unknown to the rest of the world, and the competition was contested by American competitors only.

13

Basque pelota

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

Basque pelota is a court sport that is played in France, Spain, and several Latin American countries such as Cuba and Argentina. It was an official Olympic sport once, at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, and a demonstration sport in 1924 (men), 1968 (men) and 1992 (men and women).

12

Croquet

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: commons.wikimedia.org

Croquet is a sport that involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded in a grass playing court. There are several variations of croquet currently played, differing in the scoring systems, order of shots, and layout. It was an official sport event at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

11

Live pigeon shooting

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

At the 1900 Summer Olympics, competitors took part in a shooting event whose aim was to kill as many live pigeons as possible. Nearly 400 poor birds were killed during the contest. This was the first and only time in the Olympic history when animals were killed on purpose.

10

Standing high jump

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

Standing high jump is an athletics event that was featured at the Olympic Games from 1900 to 1912. It is performed in the same way as high jump, with the difference being that the athlete has no run-up and must stand still and jump with both feet together.

9

Solo synchronized swimming

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: cnn.com

It might have been just the oxymoronic name of this sport itself what caused it to be removed from the Olympics. In fact, this unusual swimming discipline appeared at the Olympics just once – at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

8

Weight toss

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: Public Domain

The 56-pound (25.4 kg) weight throw event was held twice, in 1904 and 1920. It was part of the track and field athletics program. Weight tossing is very popular in Scotland, where people are allowed to use one hand only, but at the Olympics, the athletes could use both hands.

7

Lacrosse

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

A contact team sport played between two teams using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick, lacrosse is a rough sport that may have been developed as early as 1100 AD among indigenous peoples on the North American continent. Lacrosse was contested for medals at the 1904 and 1908 Olympics, and it was a demonstration sport at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics.

6

Baseball

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

Widely recognized as the national sport of the United States, baseball unofficially debuted at the 1904 Summer Games and became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics. The event was last played at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing with South Korea taking the gold. In 2016, however, it was confirmed that baseball would return for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

5

Polo

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

Polo is a team sport played on horseback with the objective to score goals against an opposing team. Popular in many different parts of the world, polo is an active sport in 77 countries, but its tenure as an Olympic sport was only limited to 1900–1939.

4

Deer shooting

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: wikipedia

At the 1908 Olympics, there was a shooting event known as men’s double-shot running deer competition. In this contest, a deer-shaped target made 10 runs of 75 ft (23 m), with the shooter firing two shots during each run. American Walter Winans won the gold medal in this sport.

3

Dueling pistol

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: shutterstock.com

Later standardized by the International Olympic Committee to the men’s 25 meter rapid fire pistol, men’s 30 meter dueling pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the shooting at the 1912 Summer Olympics. The event was competed by 42 shooters from 10 nations and won by American Alfred Lane.

2

Rope climbing

Source: en.wikipedia.org, image: commons.wikimedia.org

These days, rock climbing is widely practiced at the World Police and Fire Games, but this sport was actually once an official part of the Olympic gymnastics. It made its Olympic debut in 1896 and was a regular event at the Olympics until it was removed from the venue after the 1932 Games.

1

Tandem bicycle sprint

Source and image: en.wikipedia.org

Tandem bicycles are now mainly used in competitions such as the Paralympics with blind and visually impaired cyclists riding as stokers with fully sighted captains. In 1908 and then from 1920 to 1972, the tandem bicycle sprint was an actual cycling event at the Summer Olympics.